Car Wars

How Tesla’s Final Model 3 Could Be Radically Different

Last week, Tesla unveiled the Model 3, a $35,000 vehicle that’s meant to make electric cars mainstream. Some 115,000 people dropped $1,000 each to reserve the car even before they saw it, according to Tesla C.E.O. Elon Musk, flooding the company with millions in refundable deposits. By Monday, pre-orders had reached nearly 300,000 for the Model 3, which Tesla claims can go more than 200 miles on a single charge, and can accelerate from 0 to 60 miles per hour in six seconds. If every person who put down a deposit gets a car delivered late next year, Musk tweeted, the company is potentially looking at a $7.5 billion launch—and that’s before the Model 3 pre-sale ends.

The Model 3 prototype revealed at Tesla’s event last week, however, may not actually be what the final product looks like, Musk hinted in a series of 68 tweets over the last several days. (Tesla says the Model 3 will be delivered as soon as late 2017, though previous Tesla models—the Roadster, Model S, and Model X S.U.V.—were delivered late.) Musk’s tweets—some of which were interactions with Twitter users, others of which were musings of his own—indicate that the physical shape of the car could still change. “Some tweaking underway,” he wrote at one point; and at another, “Edge and contour refinement are ongoing.” Responding to one critic, who tweeted that the steering wheel design was “hideous,” Musk said “That's not the real steering system.” In another tweet he said that “the real steering controls . . . feels like a spaceship.” As Bloomberg noted, the careful choice of words provoked speculation on Twitter that a future software update could make the Model 3 a self-driving vehicle, too.

Ever the eccentric executive, Musk reacted to Twitter feedback by responding in real time to user suggestions for what the Model 3 should look like. Such transparency and open communication between a C.E.O. and an audience that includes his or her potential customers is relatively unprecedented. It’s hard to imagine Tim Cook taking advice about about the design of the next iPhone from his Twitter constituents, for example. But Musk has always been adept at manipulating the media to set investor expectations and build hype for his companies—a creative way to maintain an edge on his rivals in the ever-fiercer electric vehicle market. Tesla faces stiff competition for its Model 3: General Motors is preparing to unleash its own electric vehicle—the Chevy Bolt—this year, a full year ahead of Tesla. And since GM can manufacture the Bolt at scale around the world, it could give Tesla a run for its money.